Stereo cameras, or multi-view cameras, generally capture left and right images using two or more cameras functioning similarly to human eyes. When the left and right images are presented to the left and right eyes of a viewer, the viewer perceives a stereoscopic effect due to disparities between the two images. Specifically, the disparities between corresponding pixels in the left eye/right eye image pair create binocular parallax which is perceived by the viewer as a stereoscopic effect. The amount of parallax is related to the amount of disparity between pixels in the scene, and can be controlled to change the perceived stereoscopic effect.
Methods for adjusting the global parallax of a stereoscopic image pair are well-known in the art. These methods change the parallax for an entire scene, and do not provide a means for adjusting the disparities of local objects differently. For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0112616 uses a disparity histogram to adjust the global parallax of a stereoscopic image pair.
There remains a need for a method to adjust the disparities of individual objects in a scene, in essence, moving their stereoscopic location with respect to the remainder of the scene.